Seahorse Key, Florida: Largest Bird Nesting Colony Disappears Overnight

Seahorse Key is a 150-acre mangrove-covered dune off Florida’s Gulf Coast near Cedar Key and Sumner.

One sunny day just over a month ago there were tens of thousands of little blue herons, roseate spoonbills, snowy egrets, pelicans and other chattering birds nesting in a huge colony.

The very next day – all gone – deathly silence – nada – zilch.

The first credible report came from Mike O’Dell who runs tours out of the little marina in Cedar Key. He said that on a Tuesday in May, he led a group out to view thousands of birds crowding the shores of the key. On Wednesday, there was nothing.

“It’s a dead zone now,” said Vic Doig, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist.

“It’s not uncommon for birds to abandon nests,” said Peter Frederick, a University of Florida wildlife biologist who has studied Florida’s birds for nearly 30 years. “But, in this case, what’s puzzling is that all of the species did it all at once.”

“Any rookery that’s persisted for decades as one of the largest colonies is incredibly important,” said Janell Brush, an avian researcher with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “It’s quite a large colony. There had to be some intense event that would drive all these birds away.”

From: right.is